Browse Worthy: Online Bullying

One of the peculiarities of the Digital Age is how quickly mass hysteria can arise against someone. Perhaps the most famous case of this phenomenon is chronicled in _The New York Times Magazine _article "How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life." Sacco, with a small number of Twitter followers, tweeted a foolish line that was - rightly or wrongly - interpreted as a racial slur before she boarded an international flight. By the time she reached her destination, her tweet was the top trending one and a virtual mob was calling for her head. She lost her job, her life was threatened, and she has become famous for all the wrong reasons.

Yet it is not only unthinking tweets that can bring someone undue attention. People can purposely target someone with whom they disagree, and try to bring a high degree of public shaming on that person. A case in point is that of BuzzFeed's article that came out this week entitled "Chip And Joanna Gaines’ Church Is Firmly Against Same-Sex Marriage." BuzzFeed is a digital media company that delivers news and entertainment over social media. This post on the Gaines, who host the popular HGTV show "Fixer Upper", seems nothing more than an attempt to bully the network to remove this show and this married couple into shame for holding a traditional view on marriage.

Several helpful pieces have been written regarding this situation. They are offered here in the hope that we might learn to apply the wisdom of James to our online lives. "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger" (Jam. 3:8).